Theory of Two-Qubit T 2 Spectroscopy of Quantum Many-Body Systems

arXiv:2603.18176 · quant-ph, cond-mat.mes-hall · Submitted 2026-03-18 · Read on arXiv

quant-ph, cond-mat.mes-hall

Submitted: 2026-03-18

Updated: 2026-10-17

Comments: 22 pages, 7 figures. Selected as Editors' Suggestion in Physical Review B

Journal ref: Phys. Rev. B 114, 214416 (2026)

DOI: 10.1103/nql5-tb4m

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: Multi-qubit quantum sensors are rapidly emerging as platforms that extend the capabilities of conventional single-qubit sensing.

Abstract

Multi-qubit quantum sensors are rapidly emerging as platforms that extend the capabilities of conventional single-qubit sensing. In this work we show how suitable pulse sequences applied to a two-qubit sensor enable separate extraction of the response and noise of a probed environment within a T 2 spectroscopy framework. By resorting to representative examples, we demonstrate that this approach can resolve the spatio-temporal spreading of correlations in a many-body system. In particular, the resulting correlated dephasing signal captures features such as the dispersion of low-energy excitations, which manifest as light-cone-like profiles in the propagation of correlations. We further show that non-equilibrium conditions, for instance those induced by external driving, can modify this profile by producing additional fringes outside the light-cone. As a complementary application, we demonstrate that the method clearly distinguishes between different transport regimes in the system, including ballistic spreading, diffusive broadening, and the crossover between them.

Related papers